Christ is the Wisdom of God

Prov. 23

Matt. 23

I Cor. 1

I Cor. 2

I am amazed at this every time I come across it: Christ is the Wisdom of God. I believe that the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 8 and 9 is based on Christ, as supported by the following verses in 1 Corinthians 1:

23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. 24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength... 30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord."

Now, chapter 1 is mostly in the context of justification (when a person places their faith in Christ). But chapter 2 addresses the Mind of Christ and the Spirit of God at work in our consciences in the context of sanctification (growing in our faith in Christ). Not only is the Gospel message considered foolish by those who are perishing, but they don't understand our lifestyle either - how we make decisions in obedience to the Holy Spirit, which goes against the "natural" things of this world:

12 And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. ... 16 For,

"Who can know the Lord's thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?"

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for revealing the truth of the Gospel to me, and thank you for giving me your own Spirit to guide me according to your plan for my life. Jesus, I confess you to be the definition of Wisdom; I humble myself before your perfect wisdom and I ask you to make my mind like the Mind of Christ. Lord, I pray that my life would be a validation that your plan is good, pleasing, and perfect, and that other people will see your kindness, mercy, and grace in my life and want a personal relationship through Christ Jesus. I pray that I will not care that the world doesn't understand my lifestyle, but that I will only care what you think of my lifestyle - living in obedience to the Holy Spirit, moment by moment. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. There is power in that name. Amen.